Folk favourite Kate Rusby comes to Oswaldtwistle on July 6. We caught up with her ahead of the shoe.

YOUR DATE IN OSWALDTWISTLE WILL BE ONE OF FIVE IN FIVE DAYS. ARE YOU 'IN TRAINING' FOR THE FESTIVAL SEASON OR JUST A MASOCHIST?
Feeling like the latter at the moment! I am snowed under trying to get my new album finished and out in time for a launch at Cambridge Folk Festival! We got very behind with a lot of things including the recent floods which knocked our power off for a few days. I am, as I type, learning a verse of a song on a thumb piano to go and record in a minute, and typing the sleeve notes and lyrics for the sleeve, sorting the cover and stroking my dog!

YOU'RE A REGULAR VISITOR TO EAST LANCASHIRE: DO YOU ENJOY YOUR MISSIONARY WORK ACROSS THE PENNINES?
No I wouldn't call it an enjoyable thing, getting beaten up at the border is becoming quite tiresome as the years go on, and the cries of 'go home you Tykey git' will haunt my dreams for a long while. Joking by the way.

WHAT CAN WE EXPECT TO HEAR WHEN YOU COME TO OSWALDTWISTLE?
There will be some brand new songs, some recent songs and some old songs, and perhaps some tunes from the boys too. And I'm sure some jesting for good measure.

ANYONE WHO HAS BEEN TO A KATE RUSBY GIG CAN ALWAYS LOOK FORWARD TO SOME ENJOYABLE BETWEEN THE SONGS BANTER. ARE YOU ALL HAVING AS MUCH FUN AS YOU SEEM TO?

The boys in my band are some of my very best friends, I totally love playing with them all, and what you see on stage is usually just following on from the car journey to get there. That said, we are coming from near Aberdeen to Oswaldtwistle (does it have a nickname by the way, I might call it Ozzy, just to save some energy) so who knows what will happen at the gig!

HOW'S THE NEW ALBUM COMING ALONG? WHAT CAN WE EXPECT?
It's called Awkward Annie. It has my lovely boys on, plus lots of banjo, my new favourite instrument, some mandolin and singing from America's top boy Chris Thile and brass and strings and my thumb piano debut and much more, all produced by my staffy dog Doris, sounds smart eh.

WHAT'S IT LIKE TO BE ABLE TO WORK WITH MUSICIANS OF THE CALIBRE OF JOHN McCUSKER AND ANDY CUTTING?
I should say totally amazing, but travelling with them all in the van the day after a curry, I have to say it's just not pleasant.

IN THE PAST COUPLE OF YEARS, FOLK MUSIC HAS ALMOST BECOME 'THE NEW ROCK AND ROLL', SUCH IS ITS POPULARITY. WHAT DO YOU THINK THE APPEAL IS?
I think it's a very honest genre of music, and sometimes pop music gets a bit mundane and false, and with the likes of Damien Rice and Declan O'Rourke who also appeal to the indie kids, more and more people are venturing further into folk music and discovering they do actually like it after all.

AS A SONGWRITER YOU APPEAR TO HAVE THE UNCANNY KNACK TO WRITE SONGS THAT ARE BOTH TRADITIONAL AND MODERN AT THE SAME TIME. DESCRIBE IF YOU CAN THE WAY YOU APPROACH SONGWRITING?
It's funny cos I would never describe myself as a songwriter, I know people who are writing every day about this and that, and I can't write like that at all. Songs kinda sneak up on me late at night. I sit with my guitar and play for a while, and sometimes a tune appears and then lyrics, and if I can still remember it in the morning, I will finish it, if not it goes in the bin in my brain!

FINALLY, COULD YOU TELL US ONE FACT THAT WE MIGHT NOT KNOW ABOUT YOU?
I totally love mowing grass, I love the smell of fresh cut grass and I love my mower, a big Honda engine that goes fast, I put it on top speed and have to run behind it, I just mow anything in my path, MWHA HA HA! (that's meant to be a scary laugh by the way) Kate Rusby, Oswaldtwistle Civic Theatre, Friday, July 6. Details from 01254 380293